Schirmer Encyclopedia of Film

NOMINATIONS AND VOTING
In early January, the Academy solicits nominations for
‘‘awards of merit’’ for an individual or a collaborative
effort in up to twenty-five categories. To be eligible for
nomination, each responsible production agency must
submit an alphabetized list of qualified films to the
Academy. Beginning in 1934, the calendar year determines
the eligibility period during which any potential
nominee must have a theatrical run for a minimum of
one week in Los Angeles. While most nominees now also
show in New York, this venue is not required.
From these lists, members of technical and artistic
branches nominate within their category; that is, editors
nominate editors, producers nominate producers, and so
on. In each category, up to five nominations may be
accepted. Nominations for best foreign-language film,
defined as a feature-length motion picture produced outside
the United States with a predominantly non-English
dialogue track, follow a different procedure, as do the
documentary nominations. Foreign countries, following
their own individual procedures, submit one film for
consideration as their entry in the Best Foreign Film
category, and the foreign film eligibility period runs from
1 November to 31 October instead of the calendar year.
A committee representing all Academy branches selects
up to five finalists for the Best Foreign Film award, and
all members vote for the recipient.
Divided into two categories, documentary candidates
also follow different rules. Among other stipulations,
feature documentaries (more than forty minutes in
length) must be submitted with accompanying certification
of theatrical exhibition for paid admission in a
commercial motion picture theater, and such exhibition
must be within two years of the film’s completion date.
Short-subject documentaries (under forty minutes) may
qualify after theatrical exhibition or by winning a Best
Documentary Award at a competitive film festival.
Documentary candidates eligible for nomination are
viewed by the documentary branch screening committee,
which then nominates no more than five and no fewer
than three candidates for the OscarÒ. Only lifetime and
active Academy members who view all contenders at a
theatrical screening and the members of the screening
committee vote for the documentary category. By contrast,
nominations for Best Film are solicited from all
members, regardless of their branch affiliation. In its
earliest years, Academy practices varied; upon occasion,
industry workers and guild members also nominated or
voted, and occasionally write-ins were accepted on
OscarÒ ballots.
Categories for the Academy AwardsÒ have changed
over the decades. In 1934 the Academy added the categories
of Film Editing, Music Scoring, and Best Song.
Supporting Actor and Supporting Actress categories were
included in 1936, the Best Documentary category in
1941, and, most recently, the Animated Feature Film
category in 2001.
Beginning in 2005, the Academy announces nominations
in the last week of January and mails Award of Merit
ballots in early February with a two-week return deadline.
Coding prevents forgeries, and PricewaterhouseCoopers
(formerly Price Waterhouse and Company, an accounting
firm, which began work for the Academy in 1936) enforces
top-secret measures to maintain confidentiality. In
fact, only two PricewaterhouseCoopers partners know the
results before public announcement during the annual
telecast of the Awards ceremony. Until 1941, the press
received several hours advance notice of awardees, but
beginning that year the Academy added the element of
surprise: both press and public learn the winners when the
envelopes are opened. In response to other attentiongrabbing
award ceremonies, the Academy moved its ceremony
from March to February in 2005. Attendance at the
Awards ceremony is by invitation; no tickets are sold by
the Academy.
THE OSCAR Ò STATUETTE
Academy Awards Ò
Officially referred to as the ‘‘Academy Award Ò of Merit,’’
the 13½-inch, 8½-pound statuette awarded to each
individual who wins an Academy Award Ò takes twelve
workers five hours to hand cast and complete at R. S.
Owens, the factory in Chicago, Illinois, that has been
responsible for production since 1982. The carefully
protected steel mold gives shape to a britannium alloy,
roughly 90 percent tin and 10 percent antimony, though
initially Oscar Ò was solid bronze. Because of rationing
during World War II, the Academy used plaster, but, at
the war’s conclusion, the plaster statuettes were replaced
with gold-plated replicas. Today, with sanding and polishing
each step of the way, the statue receives layers of
copper, nickel, silver, and, finally, 24–karat gold plating.
A layer of epoxy lacquer provides the protective outer
coating. Each statue bears its own serial number engraved
at the bottom, at the back of its base, which has been
made of brass since 1945 (it was black Belgian marble
before that date). After the recipients have been
announced, R. S. Owens then produces brass nameplates
with the winner’s name and category.
The famed MGM art director Cedric Gibbons (1893–
1960) designed the statuette, and sculptor George
Stanley was paid $500 to shape the model in clay. Alex
Smith cast the design in 92.5 percent tin and 7.5 percent
copper, finishing it with gold plating. Gibbons’s original
design was a knight holding a double-edged sword,
standing on a film reel with five spokes, each spoke
representing one of the original five Academy branches:
SCHIRMER ENCYCLOPEDIA OF FILM 3